Mike Figgis &
Time Code 2000
By Jerry Roberts
Out of the scramble to sort out the roles that
digital technology will play in the future of the movies, director Mike
Figgis uses a clear and bold vision to meet both audience expectations
and high-craft goals. His film Time Code 2000, which was done
under the DGA's Low Budget Agreement, may be The New Big Thing.
The enthusiastic response to the film by industry
crowds at turn-away screenings in March at the DGA has been fueling
anticipation for the film's release by Sony.
"It's not my intention to say that this way is
the way things will go," Figgis says. "It's another tool in
the box, another option for filmmakers to use. I know how important my
editor has been for me on most of my pictures."
But Figgis didn't need an editor for Time Code
2000. The film has no cuts. It's a digital video feature that
splits the screen into four quadrants depicting people in different
places. The stories merge by about minute 12 into the same narrative,
about an alcoholic film producer and his diverse executive team during
the day of an earthquake.
Four mini-movies were shot by four cameramen-Figgis
was one of the operators-in 93-minute takes with handheld Sony DVcam
DSR-130s, which required no small amount of stamina. The actors remained
in character the entire time, as if it were a theatre piece. The sound
trades off between the individual stories while information is
communicated to the audience in all of the stories all of the time.
Time Code 2000 is at once an artful and
provocative film performed by a game ensemble and a daringly original
challenge for the cast and crew. The actors include Stellan Skarsgard,
Holly Hunter, Salma Hayek, Saffron Burrows, Glenne Headly, Julian Sands,
Jeanne Tripplehorn, Richard Edson, Xander Berkeley, Kyle MacLachlan,
Danny Huston, Viveka Davis, Mia Maestro, Golden Brooks, Steven Weber and
Daphna Kastner.
Figgis provided the actors with the basic story, who
then created their own lines. The actors and camera operators then had
to figure out blocking and movement. When individual shoots merged in
the same room, the operators had to be careful not to shoot each other.
Figgis, whose films include Leaving Las Vegas,
Stormy Monday, One Night Stand and Miss Julie, says that
director Robert Altman's films, particularly Nashville,
provided some inspiration, but the Hollywood theme of Time Code 2000
likens it more obviously to Altman's film-world piece, The Player.
Time Code's sound mixer was Robert Janiger, who pioneered some
of the overlapping and caught-on-the-fly sound techniques used on Nashville.
"I had to invent a notation system that's
closer to music writing than screenwriting, closer to a choreography
flow chart," Figgis says. "There's no way else that I could've
done this. It moves like a piece of jazz, really. The actors and crew
only had to know that they had to be at this place and doing this at
this particular time.
"I used DV because it's the only format that
gives you the 90-plus minutes for one continuous take. Beta gives you
40, for instance. The one inescapable thing I knew about this movie was
that I had to shoot it with a DVcam. It was the only way."
The logistics for the sound and choreography made for
some touchy shooting. "I often sat on actors' knees, straddling
them, to get into a close-up, going right up to the actor's face with
the lens," Figgis says. "The actors had to support you, help
you, hold you up, then go back into naturalistic poses. They were
brilliant, terrific."
The actors and crew figured out their roles and
blocking and Figgis and his three other operators shot the movie 15
times. After each take, they watched and critiqued the film as a group,
made suggestions, and then went at it again.
"It was an interesting
test for actors to be that self-disciplined and take that amount of
responsibility," Figgis says. "We had no catering, no
trailers, no one treated anyone like a star. Holly and Salma fit right
in with everbody else. Everybody gave of themselves."
All takes had to be stopped when cameras jammed. Once
a policeman decided to ticket the driver of the limosine which
Tripplehorn's cocaine-addled character was using to stalk her lover,
played by Hayek. "We went right through filming," Figgis says.
"He tried to shut us down, but he's in the one take. Salma Hayek
fans started to hang around. The 15th time we filmed was the last one
and the take I used for the film.
"This film was a huge responsibility for the
assistant directors," Figgis says. "Gary Marcus was my
principal AD and he and his crew did an amazing job. They had to cue
actors, communicate with each other to keep everything in synch, make
sure we didn't film each other. Gary and the other ADs (DGA members
Gregory Zekowski, Jonathan Watson and Mark Little, were additional 1st
ADs. Phillipe Dupont was 2nd AD and Dustin Bernard was UPM) were chosen
for their well-known abilities to think on their feet. They didn't
disappoint."
Figgis' original idea was to do the film in London
with a no-name cast, but Sony's John Calley convinced him to do it as
a Hollywood studio picture. "Sony's relationship with the guilds
was a great advantage," Figgis says. "The cooperation I got
was surprising."
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